Most stores in Los Angeles will no longer be allowed to provide plastic bags to customers under a ban approved by the City Council on Wednesday. The measure also places a 10 cent fee on paper bags.

The ban approved 13-1 by the council still has to undergo a four-month environmental study and then a final vote and signature from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

The plan gives large markets six months and smaller stores 12 months to phase out plastic bags. Shops would be required to charge 10 cents per paper bag one year after the ban is enacted. Plastic bags offered in the produce section would be exempted.

Councilman Paul Koretz, the main supporter of the ban, estimated it will officially take effect within 10 months, giving stores time to use up the bags they now have.

"This day has been a long time in coming," Koretz said, citing numerous city studies conducted over the past six years. The approved plan is less stringent than the total ban on single-use bags - both plastic and paper - that he originally sought.

Nevertheless, Koretz praised the council's decision.

"This is a historic vote making Los Angeles the biggest city in the nation in doing away with an environmental problem," he said.

And, he added, L.A.'s vote could be the tipping point in the ongoing effort to curtail disposable bags, prompting other jurisdictions to follow the city's example.

The county of Los Angeles' plastic bag ban, which also includes the 10-cent fee for paper bags, took effect in unincorporated areas last year. That measure has been challenged in court, but officials say the county has been able to continue with its program.

The city of Los Angeles plans to adapt the county's environmental impact report for its own analysis.

Councilman Bernard Parks was the only vote against the proposal, expressing concerns over possible legal challenges as well as health issues that could arise if food becomes contaminated by reusable bags.

"What concerns me also is a few years ago we told people to stop using paper bags so we could save the trees," Parks said. "And the plastics industry came in with their bags. Now we're telling people not to use plastic bags.

"What I wonder is, if we are trading environmental problems for health problems."

Koretz discounted Parks' concerns.

"The only food that is being contaminated is the red herring of that argument," Koretz said.

Villaraigosa, who will have to sign off on the final ordinance, praised the council vote.

"Today, the City Council approved a motion that will move us one step closer to making Los Angeles a greener, cleaner, more sustainable city," Villaraigosa said.

"Removing plastic bags that clutter our streets and damage our waterways will go a long way towards protecting Angelenos and Los Angeles wildlife for generations."

Environmentalists wearing suits made of dirty plastic bags and disposable bags rallied outside City Hall Wednesday morning, urging support for the ban. Environmental groups spoke to the council on behalf of the measure, including actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

"This is a problem you can get rid of overnight," the "Seinfeld" actress said. "This is a program that actually works. In cities like Calabasas ... 90 percent of the customers are bringing in their own bags.

"Does Los Angeles want to lose to Calabasas and Oklahoma City in one week?" she added, alluding to the Lakers' loss in the NBA playoffs to the Oklahoma City Thunder. "I don't think so."

Representatives of bag manufacturers called the ban a "draconian" measure that will cost jobs.

"By voting to ban plastic shopping bags, the city of Los Angeles put in motion a misguided and onerous policy that threatens the jobs of hundreds of Angelenos employed by the industry," the American Progressive Bag Alliance said, adding that many of the reusable bags are produced overseas.

"Los Angeles residents should be further concerned as this ordinance also calls for a regressive, hidden tax to be imposed without voter approval."

Kathy Brown, general manager of manufacturer Crown Poly, argued that consumers should be given a choice of paper, plastic or reusable bags, without government intervention.

The charge for the paper bags will go to the stores to offset their costs in converting to the new program, said Board of Public Works president Andrea Alarcon.

Enrique Zaldivar, director of the Bureau of Sanitation, said the paper bag charge is intended to serve as a disincentive to shoppers and to encourage them to use the reusable bags.